The present invention relates to a flexible, thermal insulative, infra-red reflective pad which can be used to insulate a beverage container or for other purposes.
Previously, the insulation of beverages from hostile environments has been accomplished by a number of means, such as insulating bottles or jugs. However, these means did not allow for the insulation of pre-packaged beverage containers and were bulky to transport and, in some cases, fragile. The use of coolers to store pre-packaged beverage containers is made difficult by their size, and does not address the problem of insulating an individual beverage container once removed from the cooler to be consumed.
Recent products designed to insulate a single beverage container have consisted of styrofoam jackets surrounding the container on its sides and bottom. While these may provide insulation from the environment, their rigidity limits their use to the insulation of beverage containers of the size for which they were formed. The size of such insulators cannot be adjusted. Furthermore, these insulators are easily damaged and their bulk becomes inconvenient when large numbers are transported.
U. S. Pat. No. 4,705,085 issued to Brown on Nov. 10, 1987 discloses an inflatable beverage insulator for insulating a beverage container. The insulator has a jacket portion and an integral base to provide a cavity for the container. Once inflated the insulator provides thermal insulation to the beverage container. The jacket is formed with a plurality of parallel fused lines which form cells or compartments that are in fluid communication with each other around their ends. Integral with the jacket is a bottom that is in fluid communication with the jacket. An air valve coupled to the bottom also directs air to and from the jacket. The jacket is folded on itself and welded. The bottom is then welded around the perimeter of the bottom of the jacket to form a permanent cup-shaped structure. Although Brown is deflatable its permanent cup-shape and bottom prevents it from being rolled up into a small enough package so that it can be stored conveniently in a pocket or purse of a user.